Monday, October 18, 2010

Rewrite classification essay

I knew I had made the wrong decision within about a half an hour. BANG...SPLASH... the wave sweeps over the boat and now there is no part of me that is dry. The boat is healed over so much I have one foot on the cockpit wall to be able to stand. I have to much sail on her. In the harbor I had made a decision that could make this a miserable day. I had chosen to keep more sail on her as opposed to shortening sail, called “reefing”, in hopes to gain speed and arrive at our destination sooner. One of the things I like most about sailing is making the boat work at maximum efficiency. This is a hard thing to do, and I had passed maximum efficiency and had gone beyond. Now I was cold and wet and not having fun. How a sailboat operates and rides can be broken up into three categories. Too much sail, not enough sail, and just right. This determines how the boat will ride and how fast or slow you go. But most importantly it determines wither it is a calm, comfortable, safe ride, or a wet, bumpy, white knuckled, unsafe ride. The goal is to choose the right combination of sail for the conditions. The balance between sail, wind and waves is like asking a beautiful women to dance for the first time. It is a delicate thing to do, can be hard to achieve, and if you do not learn how she likes to dance, you won't be easy to dance with her again.
Having too much sail up on a sailboat can be dangerous and is always uncomfortable. The worst case point of sail is when you have to travel up wind. This is called “beating to weather” and the reason it is called “beating” is because it beats you and the boat up. Because a sailboat cannot travel directly into the wind it must travel back and forth, zig-zagging, up wind and into the waves to gain ground. Doing this requires the sails to be positioned pulled in tight to the center line of the boat. By doing this it makes the boat lean or “heal” over more. If you have to much sail on the boat will heal over so much that it is hard to stand and is very uncomfortable. Also, because you are going into the waves, the sea has a tendency to smash into and brake over the boat. This makes the ride very wet, and after having the salt water sting and chill your body for a couple hours, it can get a little old. Another draw-back to this point of sail with too much sail is that it is very hard on the boat. The forces placed on the boat with the sails and crashing into the seas can stress equipment and cause it to brake, and that is never a good thing. The greatest risk with having too much sail is that the boat may be “knocked down” this is when the boat is forced on it's side or “beam ends” at ninety degrees or more. If this happen the boat can fill with water and go down or break the mast. This is the worst case scenario.
Having not enough sail can also make the boat very uncomfortable as well. This can be a tough one to fix. If you have too much sail you can usually reef the boat when it becomes uncomfortable. When there is not enough sail it can be hard to add sail once you are under way. It is a common mistake to shorten sail too much. With big wind and sea it is easy to take in too much sail. The problem with this, with either big wind or light breezes is, it that it is hard to get anywhere. The boat has to move, and the sails make it move. If there is too little sail you run the risk of staying out longer in bad weather and subjecting yourself to greater danger. With the lack of speed and progress under too little sail the weather may deteriorate and you can place yourself in a worse situation. If the wind is moderate or light, and you don't have enough sail, the problem is that you miss out on making the boat work efficiently and you just don't get anywhere. One of the greatest risks of having not enough sail is a situation with big seas and little sail up. Doing this causes the boat to get pushed up over waves and drop off the back of them. This is caused by a lack of speed and momentum. If you keep your speed and momentum the boat will carry through the wave an not loose much speed. This is dangerous because it causes the boat to surge, the waves suddenly slowing the boat for a moment. This surging can cause damage to the boat by suddenly and repeatedly shock loading components and causing them to break. Also the surging can cause people to fall and is very uncomfortable because you are always fighting to keep you balance.
Having just the right amount of sail can be one of the most wonderful experiences you can witness. There is where knowledge and experience come into play. Understand what your boat will do, in different conditions is an art form all in itself. Speed and stability. This is where I wanted to be. Perfect balance of wind and waves is the goal I was reaching for. No one can see the future and I had gambled that conditions would not change. I was wrong, this happens often and is the constant game every sailor plays. Trying to see the future and predict what the conditions will do. To reach that balance I would have to shorten sail. With just the right amount of sail the boat will move the water in perfect combination of beauty and science. Keeping the boat safe an comfortable is one thing. But to combine that with speed is something all in itself. Most sailboats have more than one sail and by balancing these sails you can make the boat act differently in different conditions. Adding or taking sail from the front or back of the boat can achieve different results.
To classify these conditions is somewhat subjective. Unsafe or uncomfortable can mean different things to different people. As a rule of thumb though, to much sail can make the boat heal excessively and causes folks to walk on the walls to get around. Not much fun. Too little sail would make the ride very bumpy, and often makes sailors fall and bump their heads, even without their grog. That is certainly not fun. To have the just the right amount of sail is a symphony. Many components working in unison to achieve something beautiful and amazing. Like a poorly played symphony, a poorly operated sailboat can cause people to leave, never want to come back, and not to speak nicely of the person who brought them there.

1 comment:

  1. Usually I have seen every possible topic ten times at least in my looooong career, but this was a new one altogether. I still wish there was more Jim M in here, more of the dash I saw in the redneck sailors piece, but I think we better moor this baby, hop in the dinghy, and row for shore, voyage completed.

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